1980 280SE questions

[Virgnarus]

Hey fellas. New to the joint, and new to mercedes cars in general. While I'm not much of an auto buff, a new car I've recently been able to purchase has me feeling I need to get a little know how on it in order to keep it in good condition. I also would like some opinions on it. From the previous owners they have claimed that the person they purchased it from stated it was relatively rare car. While I have doubts about it of course, I've noticed problems gettin it registered cuz of the VIN number showing up "incorrect" or just not at all (even had issues getting through inspection for same reason). The VIN, WDB12602210006501 , I could only find one site that was very close to the details provided by the VIN, since everything else showed up erroneous data (2001 model?) or couldn't interpret the number at all. That site is http://old.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng . Plug the VIN in there and give her a looksey, eh? Judging by that data, what can be discerned about its value? Any comments? Questions? Anyways, aside from all this, I certainly love the thing. Tremendous amount of torque for such a small n heavy car, and the straight v6 purrs like a kitten, very quiet despite its age. Would love to shed more on it later, but now I'll sleep. Ultimately I'd like to use this place to get help whereever needed by some knowledgeable mercedes buffs, so I'll be popping in here periodically to learn up on some, the W116 S class specifically. Nothing also hurtful sharing info bout this interesting purchase. Thanks in advance fellas.

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[nkole]

Back in 84 my father and I imported a 1980 280SE from Germany into Calif. Cost about $5K to convert the car to meet US/CA smog, lighing and bumper specs.

My guess is your car is also a Euro model (gray market). And it's probably a 126 series, not a 116. There was never a 1980 280SE 126 series sold in the US, so any on the market are all gray market models.

My car was very reliable and run to drive. It was by US standards a stripped car. Didn't even have AC or power windows.

Neil

[Virgnarus]

Originally Posted by nkole

Back in 84 my father and I imported a 1980 280SE from Germany into Calif. Cost about $5K to convert the car to meet US/CA smog, lighing and bumper specs.

My guess is your car is also a Euro model (gray market). And it's probably a 126 series, not a 116. There was never a 1980 280SE 126 series sold in the US, so any on the market are all gray market models.

My car was very reliable and run to drive. It was by US standards a stripped car. Didn't even have AC or power windows.

Neil

Ah, that's interesting. I do recognize that it is most certainly an import judging by our experiences with it (i.e. german manual, license plate fitting designed for thinner euro plates, registration issues, etc.). Also, yes I checked the chassis code on it and verified it was a 126 (doh! Shoulda done that earlier) so I'll mosey over to the 126 forum for future posts. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Fortunately for mine, while the AC wasn't operational upon purchasing it (belt missing) I did at least manage to have power windows.